A Harvard University graduate student who was criminally charged for attacking an Israeli classmate during an anti-Israel "die-in" demonstration, Elom Tettey-Tamaklo, has secured new employment at the institution itself, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
Beginning in August, Tettey-Tamaklo – who lost his freshman proctor position following the assault – assumed duties as a "Graduate Teaching Fellow" at Harvard, according to his LinkedIn profile, the Washington Free Beacon reports. In this capacity, he states that he works to "advise faculty on curriculum design."
So basically Harvard saw this video of Elom Tettey-Tamaklo assaulting a Jewish student and instead of disciplining him they chose to add him to their faculty.
Because nothing says "I've been bought by Qatar" like rewarding hate crimes on campus. pic.twitter.com/FLJEXq9PeB
— The Persian Jewess (@persianjewess) December 2, 2025
Intense scrutiny followed Tettey-Tamaklo after video footage captured him confronting a first-year Israeli business school student at an October 2023 "die-in" demonstration staged outside Harvard Business School, the Washington Free Beacon reported. A misdemeanor assault and battery charge was filed against him last May, and approximately one year later, a Suffolk County judge mandated that he complete an anger management course and perform 80 hours of community service.
While his legal proceedings unfolded, the Trump administration issued demands that Harvard remove Tettey-Tamaklo from the university over the assault, according to the Washington Free Beacon. The institution responded by hiring him instead. During this entire episode, Harvard declined to impose any disciplinary measures on Tettey-Tamaklo or his associate, Ibrahim Bharmal, and declined to assist prosecutors handling the case, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Minimum compensation for teaching fellows at Harvard typically spans from $3,400 to $11,040, Harvard's graduate student union indicates, according to the Washington Free Beacon. These positions involve assisting with courses, conducting "sections," evaluating exams, and providing office hours. The roles are usually granted to Harvard-enrolled graduate students, suggesting Tettey-Tamaklo may be engaged in doctoral studies. Tettey-Tamaklo obtained a master's degree from the divinity school in May, mere weeks after accepting the pretrial diversion program in his assault case, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
🇬🇭🇺🇸 Ghanaian scholar Elom Tettey-Tamaklo has been appointed Graduate Teaching Fellow at Harvard University. He earned his master's in Religion, Ethics and Politics in 2024 and now assists faculty in global politics, migration, and development, following the dismissal of his 2024 pic.twitter.com/iGak6TSyTW
— LOVIN GHANA TV (@lovinghanaTV) December 3, 2025
Tettey-Tamaklo's position as a Harvard employee will certainly generate controversy among the institution's detractors, according to the Washington Free Beacon. Beyond the Trump administration – which stated in an April correspondence detailing its conditions for restoring federal funding that Harvard must permanently remove "the students involved in the Oct. 18 assault of an Israeli Harvard Business School student" – a coalition of distinguished business school alumni criticized the institution following the assault. Harvard's leadership, Sen. Mitt Romney and billionaire investor Seth Klarman stated, neglected to confront "expressions of hate and vitriol against Jews," the Washington Free Beacon reported.
For a brief period, Harvard seemed to acknowledge the criticism seriously, according to the Washington Free Beacon. The institution stripped Tettey-Tamaklo of his proctor role – a position that required him to reside among freshmen to facilitate their "adjustment to Harvard" – in November 2023, reportedly citing "student discomfort." This represented the sole action Harvard implemented against Tettey-Tamaklo, who maintained good standing with the institution throughout his criminal proceedings, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Harvard has similarly supported the second student charged with assault in connection with the demonstration, law school graduate Ibrahim Bharmal, according to the Washington Free Beacon. The institution published a blog post in which Bharmal reflected warmly on his tenure at the school before his criminal case concluded. Shortly after Bharmal entered the same diversion program as Tettey-Tamaklo, he received a $65,000 Harvard Law Review fellowship designated to serve the "public interest," the Washington Free Beacon reported. The funding supports the fellow's employment at a government agency or nonprofit organization. In Bharmal's situation, this translates to a position at the Council on American-Islamic Relations's Los Angeles office.
Harvard's management of Tettey-Tamaklo's and Bharmal's cases prompted the Israeli student attacked at the demonstration, Yoav Segev, to file a lawsuit against the institution in July, alleging "misleading tactics, obfuscation, and misrepresentations" that "prevented him from ever obtaining administrative remedies," according to the Washington Free Beacon. He is not alone in making such allegations – the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office stated that Harvard refused to cooperate with its investigation into the assault, delaying the criminal cases against Tettey-Tamaklo and Bharmal and preventing the office from identifying additional perpetrators, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Text messages disclosed by the House Education and Workforce Committee offered insight into Harvard's perspective on the assault, which occurred as Segev attempted to traverse the demonstration while recording it, according to the Washington Free Beacon. "Another complication is that, although [the Israeli student] was technically within his rights … [t]he way he was taking videos appears provocative," Harvard University president Alan Garber stated in a sequence of texts encouraging Harvard Business School dean Srikant Datar not to distribute a community message about the "die-in," the report concluded.
